Severed Wings
by Pikachumaniac
Summary: What was going to be a long fic has now been reduced to the prologue. A bird’s scream revives a distant memory for the moonguardian. I’ll very much appreciate it if you R&R, and please enjoy. grimaces Epilogue up, finally.
1. Three Screams

The One and Only Disclaimer In This Story: No. Yes. No. Yes. No. Yes. Okay. Buh bye.

Severed Wings ~ What was going to be a long fic has now been reduced to the prologue. A bird's scream revives a distant memory for the moon-guardian. I'll very much appreciate it if you R&R, and please enjoy. ^^;

This story was originally going to be my interpretation on what could have happened after Clow's death if he hadn't sealed Yue and Cerberus into the book. However, after a very unsuccessful test with the public (some of my friends like it, so I don't know anymore), I have decided that this story has done nothing but disturb people. Therefore, I am ending my work on it and reducing it to simply the prologue, unless people wish for me to post the epilogue, which will be explained in the end author notes.

Note, this is alternative universe. It didn't happen, it can't happen, I hope it doesn't happen. This is simply an extension of a disturbing vision I got in my head one day. The story, I suppose, might not make any sense whatsoever. I don't know. Or maybe the prologue is all I need, and the story was merely an explanation and addition.

The story itself will also be explained in the end author notes.

Please enjoy.

****

Rated PG-13 for PG-13ish stuff

Three Screams

Order: Real life, _memory_, real life (Touya and Yukito),_ memory, _ repeat

The bird screamed. It fought desperately against the two boys who were tormenting it, but nothing came of it. So it screamed.

_He couldn't scream. To scream was to show weakness, and he had never showed weakness before. He wasn't about to either._

"Yuki, are you okay?"

_The wings are a representative of freedom. And then they cut them off._

Blood flowed from the gray wings as the small feathered animal continued to shrill loudly and flap its wings. It didn't understand why it was happening… it barely understood what was happening. Why did they do this? What had it done to make them hate and cause so much pain?

_They didn't care what they did. He was a creature of magic. That was all that mattered to them, and that's why they did it._

"I'm fine… To-ya…"

_They got rid of the things that they feared. And they feared him._

Light-boned wings flapped desperately as the cruel glint of a knife shown in the light.

_The blade bit into skin, bones, and feathers._

"You're bleeding."

__

He gritted his teeth and clenched his fists. He wasn't going to scream. The blade dug in deeper, and he could feel the wing being severed from his back.

Red blood ran down the bird's back as one wing nearly came free. Only a useless piece of skin connected the wing to the bird, but then they cut it off as well. The small bird couldn't help but scream again, a disturbingly human sound, laced with every ounce of pain and agony that the creature felt.

_The silver blood of a divine creature was running down his back. His upper back felt as if it was on fire, the wing that was being cut into was hanging loosely. Only one more cut was needed to remove it, and the beautiful wing of ivory colored feathers would be no longer._

"My shoulders… it's like… they're on fire…"

__

It fell to the ground, silver blood coating and snowy white feathers. Blood streamed from where his wing had been in rivers, dripping to his feet. They joined the blood that already covered the formerly connected wing.

It was a pitiful scene, a small bird with only one wing, blood flowing freely from the other stump. The two boys switched places, and it only started again. A tear-dropped shape eye closed painfully. It had begun again. And there was still no escape from the pain, an inevitable living nightmare.

_The _s_late-blue cat-eyes were hazed over with pain, even though he was being given a quick respite from the next bout of pain. It was so blurry… so… the sharp pain returned to plague him some more. He shut his eyes again. He mustn't scream… he mustn't scream…_

"I'm going to take you to… Yuki? Yukito, can you hear me? Yukito?!"

__

The world was spinning before his eyes, which threatened to spill the so un-familiar tears. Nails dug into flesh, teeth bit into his lip with so much force that it started to bleed the silver blood as well. 

Its struggles were half-hearted because it had no strength to put into struggling anymore.

_He had held out as long as he possibly could. The self-imposed silence could go no longer. And as the silver blood continued to flow from the stumps, the cruel blade continued to slash through the hollow bone and skin, the pain blocked out every other sense possible except the agony…_

"To… ya…"

_He couldn't hold on… he had to… but he just couldn't…_

The bird shrieked one final call as darkness crept upon its senses.

_He screamed_.

"Yuki!"

_He had never done this before._

Heart-beat and breathing slowed to a dead stop.

__

But he had never felt such mind-numbing pain either.

He looked up without really seeing.

__

The hardest glass shatters upon reaching breaking point.

Its eyes rolled back into its head and it lay limp.

_He had reached the point of simply not caring anymore._

Darkness invaded his senses, words stilled on his lips.

__

So he screamed.

A cruel wind blew out a flame of life.

_Long, drawn-out, unfamiliar sound._

Touya started to panic.

__

Never faltering, so disturbing, so un-human.

A bloody feather fell to the ground in a pool of crimson blood.

_Somebody help me…_

Yukito fell into Touya's arms, unconscious, heedless of his lover yelling his name.

_Two giant wings lay in a pool of silver blood._

Three screams, one dead, one unconsciously… and one from centuries ago, echoed into the moon-lit night…

_A severed memory of freedom now lost._

Thanks to Salt-Washed Mirror, who has kindly informed me that there is a morale to this story, the morale is that you don't know pain until you feel it. Or something like that. I can't recall anymore, but she said something along those lines.

What happened in this story was that there were two boys torturing a bird, most likely a pigeon. I never specified, if I recall correctly, but I believe I told my friend that it was a pigeon after she questioned me on it. They cut off its wings.

Touya and Yukito happen to be in pretty close range, I guess. Yue senses the bird's agony, and that jolts back the memory, which will be explained in the next paragraph. Because of these memories, Yukito feels the pain that Yue felt in the past and remembered now, and his shoulders start to bleed. As you may have noticed, most of the scenes between Touya and Yukito were simply dialogue, no actual movement until later on. For those of you who may be interested, Yukito's blood is red, not silver like Yue's.

As promised, Yue's memories. What this story was originally going to be about was after Clow's death if he had not sealed them into the Clow book. This obviously could not have happened because then he wouldn't have been able to split into Eriol and Fujitaka. However, after Clow's death, the town they live in (or whatever it is supposed to be), discovers Cerberus and Yue, and perhaps reasonabally, they are afraid. Fear leads to strange things, and they attempt to destroy the two guardians or something of the sort.

I eventually wondered, wouldn't they be able to fight back? I solved that problem by deciding that Clow created them so that they could not hurt other humans. Obviously, a general lack of knowledge on my behalf, and I apologize for that. What was supposed to happen was that Cerberus gets caught while Yue escapes to hide the Clow book from the town, who would probably try to destroy it. When he returns to help Cerberus, well, what to do you know, he doesn't actually succeed.

A human with bird wings most likely isn't going to get anywhere with magic-fearing people, and they cut the wings off. That is the memory that Yue is having, and the pain that Yukito is feeling. The blood is silver because Yue is an immortal, just for your info. The pain becomes too much for Yukito, and he faints somewhere similar to the point that the bird loses conscience and dies.

That is, I believe, the breakdown of the story. I'm very sorry to those I have confused.

For anybody who wishes for me to do so, I wrote a very strange epilogue to this story (yes, I am odd. I wrote the prologue and epilogue but never anything in between). It deals with how Yue got his wings back.

The wings are very important. Wings, to myself at least, represent freedom. When Yue loses his wings, it symbolizes a lost of freedom among other things, which I no longer need to discuss since that section will never be written.

Thank you for taking the time to read this fic. I would very much appreciate it if you leave a review, whether it be nice, criticism, or even a flame. By this point, I'll take anything.

Pikachumaniac


	2. Little Girl's Angel

Disclaimer: Pigs will fly, cows will dance, and birds will figure skate when I own CCS.

Severed Wings

First and foremost, I would like to thank everybody who reviewed the first part of this story. You have all truly made my day. I was beginning to think that I've more or less lost every bit of ability to write, but your reviews have perked me up and done wonders to my esteem. More than a 100 on any test can ever do. Thank you so much.

No matter what you think, I believe this is thoroughly the most screwed up piece of writing I have ever done. Although that is, perhaps, not saying much. But once I look back at some of the writings I have done, then I think it means quite a bit. Anyhow, Kei liked it, which is probably the absolute only reason why I am putting this up. If I feel evil later, I'll put up her e-mail address so you can all e-mail her to either thank her or flame her. *evil grin* It doesn't matter much to me… *hides from Kei, crickets chirp*

This, as previously mentioned, deals with how Yue gains his wings back. What I was originally going to do was write an emotions piece about what happened directly after his wings were cut off. Unfortunately, writer's block has once again reared its ugly head and murdered my writing skills cause I haven't been able to write anything recognizable for the past two weeks. So I'm setting the emotions piece aside for the moment,** and a note to those of you who have read "Matchmaker Matchmaker"**, it seems that I'll have to go back on my promise that I'll be able to post up the rest soon… heh… I've only written about half a page, thanks to this lovely case of writer's block. 

Before I scare you all off with my rambling, this chapter somehow takes place after Yue and Cerberus escaped. How, I have no idea. Isn't that sad? Yue helped Kero be sealed in the book, and he hid it somewhere, etc, and now he's just wandering through the town. I haven't figured out why. I doubt I ever will. Anyhow, that's where this scene is taking place. I hope you enjoy, and if you have any questions, just e-mail me. =D 

Epilogue ~ Little Girl's Angel

"Hello."

Yue stiffened at the voice, expecting at any moment for a gang of angry villagers to swoop down and carry him off to… god knows where. He felt like running, wishing that he could just fly away… but he couldn't… not anymore. But the voice was so childish, sweet and innocent.

_They're always sweet and innocent… and then they turn into hell reincarnated._

"Are you still there?"

The voice was coming from above, and he looked up to see a little girl about seven. She was smiling, her brown eyes looking directly… somewhere else. She kept looking, but her eyes kept passing over him, something that was odd. Even without his wings, which used to have a soft light like his namesake, he still stuck out like a sore thumb against the dark surroundings. But she kept looking, unable to see…

Unable to see.

The girl was blind.

"I'm sorry," she finally murmured just loud enough for him to hear, "I can't see you. I hope I'm not bothering you."

It's not like he had an agenda or anything.

She was leaning so far over the window sill, and it was making him queasy. What happens if she fell? What happens if he didn't catch her? What happens if the sound of a small child impacting the ground woke up the entire town? From his viewpoint, none of the three situations were incredibly desirable, especially the third. Perhaps if he didn't say anything, she would think he had left…

But how did she know he was there in the first place then?

"Do you want to come up?"

Not there, not there, not there, not there, not there, not there, not there, not there…

"I don't think anybody would mind."

Not there, not there, not there, not there, not there, not there, not there, not there…

"Please?"

Surprisingly enough, he found himself nodding. Which was quite pointless, since she could not see it. He spread out his wings, prepared to fly up there…

And remembered that he didn't have wings. Not anymore.

There were vines climbing up the side of the house. They looked strong enough to support his weight… what was the worst that could happen anyway?

Then again, he didn't want to think about it.

~*~

"Hi."

He was looking at her, face to face, although he still could not bring himself to say anything. The girl didn't seem to mind though because she simply continued to watch him… or at least, the general direction she thought he might be in.

When he had succeeded in climbing to the second story window (and he was sure that he was going to paying hell for it tomorrow… especially that last slip), she had been waiting for him, as if she had known that he was going to come back. It was strange, but she intrigued him. So young, so innocent, so… pure.

But she was wasting away. He had known as soon as he had set eyes on her. A disease had taken away her vision, and it was eating away at her as well. She was so pale, so delicate. Upon deciding that it probably wasn't a good idea to allow her to just stand there and expose herself to the outside, he had picked her up in his arms. The girl didn't protest, although that might have been due to the fact that she didn't have enough energy to protest. Walking inside after closing the window, the moon-guardian sat down on the bed, looking at the girl carefully. The cold wind had caused her otherwise pale cheeks to be rather rosy, and her dull, mousy-brown hair was tousled. She was too thin to be healthy, but that seemed to be a given.

She was dying.

Now that he was here though, he was at a loss of what to do. Here he was, sitting in a room, holding a small girl dying from some disease. What a lovely scenario would ensure if somebody came into the room at this particular moment, probably recognizing him as one of the demons created by Clow.

He swallowed stiffly. What would she be saying if she could see who… or was it _what_ he was? Probably wouldn't be welcoming him into her room so sweetly.

During his quiet thinking, he hadn't noticed as she looked up at his face, acting like this was the most natural thing to do in the world… who doesn't invite strangers from the streets into their rooms and let them do whatever? Currently, she was playing gingerly with the blue gem (. Can't think of any other way of describing it!) on the complex white clothing, blowing some stray pieces of the long, white hair out of her face. He had seemingly forgotten her until he noticed somebody looking at him intently. The moon-guardian blinked rapidly and looked down at her, the thin, pale face scrunched in a look of deep concentration. Then she too seemed to notice she was being watched by the being she had been watching so intently, and the expression was replaced by that of composure.

Perhaps he was simply getting paranoid…

The girl smiled softly, the brown eyes no longer looking at him but far off into the distance as she gingerly reached out to touch the guardian's ivory bangs out of his eyes (although they immediately and stubbornly fell back), "Are you my moon-angel?"

He stiffened slightly, not able to tear his intent stare off of her.

When she became aware that there was going to be no more answer but the sudden sharp intake of breath, she continued, "A month ago, I was… looking out the window. And I saw an angel flying in front of the moon. My moon-angel was… the purest white… long white hair, white clothes… and silvery blue cat-eyes. I don't know why… I could see them so clearly… but I knew that's what they… looked like."

He felt a slight tightening of his throat as the blind girl felt the smooth silver edge of the earring he wore on his left ear before she looked back up at him, stating in a gentle tone, "And wings… he had wings… that's why I knew he was an angel… feathery wings of the purest white…"

She stopped and the brown eyes stared intently at him, as if seeing him although both knew that could not be so. After a moment's silence, she snuggled into his embrace, not taking her eyes off him even as she murmured quietly, "I can't see you anymore… I can't see how much more beautiful you are than from when I looked through my window… and saw you for the first time… but I know you're the moon-angel I saw."

It was an understatement to simply say he was surprised, and she seemed to notice it as she smiled again, eyes now looking out the window at the full moon. Her voice was so quiet, the disease taking its deadly toll on her, "Momma said that there's no such things as angels… and then I saw you again… no matter what they all said, I knew you were an angel."

Gently running a hand through the dark brown hair, he again noticed how frail she was, a fragile china doll ready to break as soon as somebody so much as breathed on her. The need to ask her how she knew these things were so strong, but it would take so much out of her… he could feel her life slipping away as he cradled her. She was so young, she had so much in front of her… but she would never be able to experience any of it because she was dying.

"How…" he started absent-mindedly, before he shut his mouth again. No. He wasn't going to ask her to overexert herself simply because of his curiosity. She seemed to giggle at this, as if sensing what had stopped him, but even her laugh was just her breathing out a little louder.

"Because," she started, "I know you're an angel… I know because… if you _weren't_, you wouldn't be here now…"

Each breath was painfully weaker than the last, the life was slipping quickly. He knew she was going to be gone soon, but it seemed that both were unwilling to relinquish their grip on the other; he for the simple need of being with somebody who didn't look at him with fear, she for the comfort of being with the silvery moon-angel that flew in front of the moon one night when she was looking outside.

_But what kind of angel has its wings cut off?_

He was no angel… of course, he wasn't human either, but he wasn't an angel. However, he certainly didn't want to tell that to the delicate girl that he held in his arms. He wasn't going to crush her peace of mind.

It wasn't until he felt her gripping his hand tightly that he heard her words. She was obviously struggling to get them out, exhausting herself to get them out. The knowledge filled him with panic, and he used a free hand to cover her mouth.

"Conserve your strength," he whispered, taking his hand off her mouth. The serene smile was still there, so soft and filled with the kindness that Clow Read had in his smile before… before he too, passed away.

"I don't want to die," she whispered, "But there's no helping it."

_No… there isn't_…

"I wanted to see you one more time… before…" her voice trailed off, the words unspoken but settling heavily in both their minds. He slowly brushed away the tears of resignation that were slipping from her unseeing eyes, "And now you're here… as if you knew what I wanted…"

He honestly did not know what to say…

"Yue… Thank you… for being here…" she held his hand tighter as the words slipped from her mouth. He didn't even have time to open his mouth to say what was on his mind when she sighed, the soft sigh escaping her lips and taking her life with it.

It didn't take him long to realize that she had been taken away from him, just as easily as Clow had.

_Perhaps I am nothing more than a blight…_

That innocent smile still played on her lips, and if only she could breath (!), it would be all right. If only she could live on, experience her full potential of life… if only…

Could have, would have, should have… didn't.

The moon-guardian bit his lip, unsure of what to do now. Dawn was fast approaching, and he couldn't be found there. Oh, that would be an even worse scene than what he could think possible, that was for sure. Yet he still did not wish to release her, the first person to be able to see him without really seeing…

_Silver-blue tendrils of magic stirred within._

He brushed away the mousy-brown bangs that had slipped in front of her face. Unlike his stubborn bangs, they were not so and fell to the sides of her face easily.

_They look like they should scald, the flames seem to dance in a crazed frenzy as never before, waiting to spread throughout like a wildfire. Except unlike a wildfire, it would not burn, but bring something lost._

A smile just had to appear. She couldn't see, but she had still seemingly seen straight into her soul. In so many ways, she was like Clow, and he was grateful to her for that. For bringing back a little something that he thought would be forever lost.

_It uncurls, as if breathing air for the first time. Take in a sweet breath, and start laughing. Free, free, free, free! The air has never been so glorious, the world never so beautiful. Oh, if only to fly into the sky, fly into the empty vast of sky that sang of freedom and promise. If only…_

The first rays of sunlight were starting to unfurl above the horizon. He was going to have to leave. Reluctantly, he started to set her back down on the bed. Still smiling.

So like Clow.

_If only to fly one more time… if only to unfurl those beautiful white wings and fly away… to what? Oh, who cares? The wings are a representative of freedom, of being able to go where one wanted! Let us fly, let us fly away…_

Another lingering glance.

_Freedom only a grasp away._

A childish voice, the embodiment of sweetness and innocence.

_Are you my moon-angel?_

He set her down carefully… if he kept lying to himself, perhaps she was simply sleeping…

__

Accept that the magic has returned… and fly.

So quiet from a disease that devastated her being.

__

My moon-angel was… the purest white… long white hair, white clothes… and silvery blue cat-eyes. I don't know why… I could see them so clearly… but I knew that's what they… looked like.

Still so reluctant to let her slip into the vastness of the bed… so big for such a frail occupant.

__

Feathery wings of the purest white unfurl…

Yet retaining the qualities that made her so endearing.

__

And wings… he had wings… that's why I knew he was an angel… feathery wings of the purest white…

The wings spread to their full length, touching the opposite walls from tip to tip.

_Wings spread to their full length, savoring the taste of freedom… the open air with no boundaries and limits._

The smile refused to leave her.

__

I can't see you anymore… I can't see how much more beautiful you are than from when I looked through my window… and saw you for the first time… but I know you're the moon-angel I saw.

The familiar feeling that was once thought to be lost forever was so delightful that he nearly burst out laughing.

_It never takes much to reawaken something that was and always will be there._

Two wings of snowy feathers surrounded her like a cocoon, smelling of dew drops and white flowers, her back propped up against the head board.

__

I know you're an angel… I know because… if you weren't_, you wouldn't be here now…_

Her moon-angel couldn't help but give her a tender kiss on the forehead as the wings unfolded, exposing her to the light that was now streaming into the room, although still only a little. The moon-guardian managed to get his entire being out of the window, his wings opening up once again in perhaps a blaze of glory. He gazed up at his symbol, the full moon that still stood out strongly even as the sun started to edge into the world. The strong ivory wings beat again at the air once more as he flew away from the girl that had awakened it all again.

_Free… free to taste the air…_

"Arigato…"

To be frank, there is no purpose to this chapter. It was written merely on a whim, and I do not think it is so good, but at least it answers how he got his wings back, right? Okay, so it does have _some_ purpose, but it truly was written simply on a whim. I was pretty bored.

This chapter is, in my opinion, beyond all reason confusing. The reason of which is because the girl is never completely explained. I was going to write a chapter from her POV (kinda) in the original long, vast story, but… the story is in the kaputs, as you can see. What happened was that after Kero-chan was captured, Yue hid the Clow book, and the girl saw him when he flew by the moon. Later, when he returned to help Kero (so it's all his fault! Bwahahaha… *gets taken away by Kero fans bearing pitchforks… wait! I'm one of them! AGH!*), etc etc, etc, the girl later hears about how her 'angel' is really a demon. But she never believes it. I don't much understand it myself, to be truthful, but I suppose we'll all just live with our own interpretations in the meantime.

The emotions piece. Ah. I really want to write it because I got this interesting idea and there's this absolutely kawaii scene that I am dying to write. Unfortunately, the rest of the fic cannot be written in my current state. Therefore, I cannot promise the emotions piece, but I'm going to do my best to write it. The same goes for basically all my other fics at the moment. I have about… I dunno… that matchmaker fic and about 10 others in progress, none of which want to be finished… WAH! I'm depressing myself and getting completely off-topic, so I hope you enjoyed the epilogue, and I beg you to leave a review even if you found this to be the crappiest piece of writing that you ever read in your entire life.

Please?

Pikachumaniac *HUGE puppy-eyes just BEGGING for a review… HINT HINT HINT HINT!!!!*


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